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Single Idea 4198

[filed under theme 9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 9. Ship of Theseus ]

Full Idea

If we say that up to 5% of a ship's parts can be replaced without the ship ceasing to exist, we could replace 4% and then 4% again, and it would retain its identity, if identity is transitive.

Clarification

Identity is 'transitive' means if a is b, and b is c, the a must be c

Gist of Idea

If 5% replacement preserves a ship, we can replace 4% and 4% again, and still retain the ship

Source

E.J. Lowe (A Survey of Metaphysics [2002], p.26)

Book Ref

Lowe,E.J.: 'A Survey of Metaphysics' [OUP 2002], p.26

A Reaction

One suspected that all attempts at precision with the ship of Theseus were doomed, but this nicely demonstrates it.

The 19 ideas with the same theme [does his ship remain if its parts are steadily changed?]:

16516 The ship which Theseus took to Crete is now sent to Delos crowned with flowers [Plato]
1212 Replacing timbers on Theseus' ship was the classic illustration of the problem of growth and change [Plutarch]
12853 Some individuate the ship by unity of matter, and others by unity of form [Hobbes]
17256 If a new ship were made of the discarded planks, would two ships be numerically the same? [Hobbes]
12972 Bodies, like Theseus's ship, are only the same in appearance, and never strictly the same [Leibniz]
21301 The purpose of the ship makes it the same one through all variations [Hume]
16157 Insurance on the original ship would hardly be paid out if the plank version was wrecked! [Frede,M]
11858 The question is not what gets the title 'Theseus' Ship', but what is identical with the original [Wiggins]
16517 Priests prefer the working ship; antiquarians prefer the reconstruction [Wiggins]
17589 If you reject transitivity of vague identity, there is no Ship of Theseus problem [Inwagen]
13381 Thinking of them as 'ships' the repaired ship is the original, but as 'objects' the reassembly is the original [Jubien]
13382 Rearranging the planks as a ship is confusing; we'd say it was the same 'object' with a different arrangement [Jubien]
4592 If you can have the boat without its current planks, and the planks with no boat, the planks aren't the boat [Heil]
4198 If 5% replacement preserves a ship, we can replace 4% and 4% again, and still retain the ship [Lowe]
4199 A renovation or a reconstruction of an original ship would be accepted, as long as the other one didn't exist [Lowe]
4200 If old parts are stored and then appropriated, they are no longer part of the original (which is the renovated ship). [Lowe]
14741 The ship undergoes 'asymmetric' fission, where one candidate is seen as stronger [Sider]
12854 An entrepreneur and a museum curator would each be happy with their ship at the end [Simons]
12855 The 'best candidate' theories mistakenly assume there is one answer to 'Which is the real ship?' [Simons]